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Ghosn took bullet train to Osaka en route to Lebanon

Japan Justice Minister Masako Mori speaks during a press conference about Carlos Ghosn's escape from Japan. / Getty TOKYO — Former Nissan and Renault boss Carlos Ghosn began his astonishing escape from Japan with a bullet train ride from Tokyo to Osaka, possibly accompanied by several people, Japanese news agency Kyodo reported Monday. Japanese authorities also said on Monday they may still press for Ghosn's extradition from Lebanon to face multiple charges of financial wrongdoing, even though the country does not normally extradite its nationals. Security cameras captured Ghosn leaving his home on Dec. 29 at about 2:30 p.m. (0530 GMT) and arriving some hours later at Tokyo's Shinagawa Station, where he took the train 300 miles to Shin Osaka Station, Kyodo said, citing a person familiar with the matter. The international fugitive then went by car to a hotel near Osaka's Kansai International Airport, where he boarded a private jet at 11:10 p.m., according to the media report. Ghosn was forbidden from leaving Japan while awaiting trial on charges of financial misconduct, which he has denied, but he fled at the end of 2019 to escape what he called a "rigged" justice system. Prosecutors are now working with police to piece together Ghosn's route and find out who helped him, Kyodo said. In the government's first briefing since Ghosn skipped bail, Justice Minister Masako Mori said on Monday that as a general principle, Tokyo could request the extradition of a suspect from a country with which it has no formal extradition agreement. Such a request would need to be carefully examined based on the possibility of "guaranteeing reciprocity and the domestic law of the partner country," Mori told reporters in Tokyo.   Arrest warrant Mori did not say what would guarantee reciprocity (the idea that benefits or penalties extended by one country to citizens of another should be reciprocated). She also did not say if there were any Lebanese nationals in Japan wanted in Lebanon. Mori offered little insight into the events of Ghosn's escape to his ancestral home, repeatedly saying she could not comment on specifics because of an ongoing investigation. Japanese officials broke days of silence about the Ghosn case on Sunday, saying they would tighten immigration measures and investigate his escape thoroughly. The authorities have also issued an international notice for his arrest.

Recharge Wrap-up: Telsa seeks to open new Texas Gallery, Gigafactory boosting NV real estate

Tesla's Gigafactory battery production facility is helping to create a real estate boom near its building site outside of Reno, NV. Land that stood vacant for years is being snatched up by developers eager to make a buck in what is appearing to become a new hub of high-tech industry. Much of the money influx seems to be coming from investors outside of the area. New apartment complexes are going up, and the usual six months of real estate inventory has been shrunken to about 2.6 months. Read more at Teslarati. Tesla is seeking approval for a limited-service showroom - or "Gallery" - in San Antonio, TX. The area's News 4 discovered the proposal in a schedule for the San Antonia planning commission. Texas laws don't allow Tesla to sell directly to consumers, so the gallery would offer the public a chance to see the car in person, but not take a test drive or get pricing information. The Tesla Gallery could be a foothold for Tesla in the San Antonio area, which, according to Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff, would be a positive addition to the city and its future. Judge Wolff says that Tesla moving in "shows that San Antonio is up with technology, blends with other efforts that we're doing with solar power." Read more at ValueWalk. Kansas City Power & Light Company (KCP&L) will install over 1,000 ChargePoint EV charging stations in the greater Kansas City area. This will be the largest charging installation by a utility company in America. Drivers will be able to use these stations, which will be built by the end of this summer, for free for the first two years. The first 15 stations will be fast chargers provided by Nissan. KCP&L expects the charging network to help drive down electricity costs for customers in general. "People generally charge their cars at non-peak periods when KCP&L's electrical grid is being underutilized," says Natural Resources Defense Council Senior Energy Economist Ashok Gupta. "By stimulating electric vehicle adoption with their Clean Charge Network, what KCP&L is doing is encouraging people to use the electrical grid more efficiently and drive down the cost of electricity for everyone." Read more in the press release below. KCP&L BECOMES ELECTRIC VEHICLE INFRASTRUCTURE LEADER WITH GROUNDBREAKING ANNOUNCEMENT KCP&L's Clean Charge Network will be the largest utility electric vehicle charging station installation in the country KANSAS CITY, Mo. (Jan.

Nissan does its best Google Glass impression with 3E headgear [w/video]

The jury may still be out on whether it'll be legal to drive with Google Glass on your nose, but that doesn't mean automakers are going to sit around waiting to see which way the wind blows in one jurisdiction or another. Mercedes-Benz, for example, is already working on ways to integrate its infotainment system into Google Glass, but Nissan is taking things a step further by developing its own wearable tech.
The device is called Nissan 3E, and we don't have much information to go on at this point - just a couple of images, a terse press release and the highly stylized (and rather painful-looking) video below. The Japanese automaker lists internet connectivity and communication as the primary features. But we'd have to assume that, if an automaker is developing it, the device would have some relevance to, you know... driving.
The possibilities are endless, extending from turn-by-turn directions and track information to vehicle metrics and intuitive control of the car's auxiliary controls. We'll have to wait until we get to Tokyo to find out more, but between this and the smartwatch concept it revealed in Frankfurt, Nissan seems to be on a bit of a gadget streak lately.